This week on Pagecast, the podcast from Jonathan Ball Publishers, Richard Steyn chats to strategist, media specialist and writer David Gorin about his new book Rhodes and His Banker: Empire, Wealth and the Coming of Union.

Rhodes and his Banker tells the story of the remarkable friendship between Cecil John Rhodes, a larger-than-life historical figure, and Sir Lewis Michell, a modest, unassuming banker.

The financial institution that brought the two together – the Standard Bank – was at the heart of South Africa’s transformation from agricultural backwater to industrial powerhouse in the late 19th century, thanks to the discovery first of diamonds and then of gold.

Steyn, the author of acclaimed biographies of Jan Smuts, Louis Botha and Alfred Milner, intertwines the stories of Rhodes and Michell, chronicling the growth of the Standard Bank under Michell’s careful stewardship and the seemingly irresistible rise of Rhodes, rapacious entrepreneur and empire-builder. He situates Rhodes and Michell at the high noon of the British Empire, a time when the benefits of British rule seemed self-evident to its ruling elite.

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Categories Non-fiction South Africa

Tags David Gorin Jonathan Ball Publishers Pagecast Podcasts Rhodes and His Banker Richard Steyn